As is well known in the bearing technology, the hydrodynamic air bearing consists of a top foil, an intermediate foil and bump foil that are reversed rolled into a cylindrical shape that, in turn, is mounted within a sleeve for radially supporting a rotating shaft. An example of apparatus utilizing this type of bearing is the air cycle machines utilized for cooling aircraft manufactured by the Hamilton Standard division of United Technologies Corporation, the assignee of this patent application. In these designs, one end of each foil is secured while the opposite end is free. Upon reaching a predetermined speed, the air in the sleeve is forced between foils that form wedges or air pockets which serve as a cushion for supporting the shaft without the need of liquid lubrication. It has been found that on occasion, the free end of the foils would move axially and become skewed either during operation of the rotating machinery or when the journal air bearing is being installed. The effect of the skewing is that the bearing tightens which increases shaft torque and under certain circumstances could prevent proper air film formation resulting in malfunction of the bearing. This invention serves to obviate this problem by providing means for preventing the foils from skewing. In one embodiment this invention contemplates incorporating end tabs at the end of the free end of the top foil that fit into the keyway and in another embodiment tabs at the side edges assure that the top foil in the first embodiment and all the foils in the second embodiment remain in the cylindrical shape.